Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: gail simone, mortal kombat

Gail Simone Could Have Written Mortal Kombat Into The DC Universe

Dan DiDio invited Gail Simone to look at a list of properties that WB owned, "many of which DC would have had the ability to adapt to comics."

Gail Simone wrote for TwitterX, "One time at SDCC, Dan DiDio invited me to lunch at a beautiful seafood restaurant on the bay. He had been given a list of properties that WB owned, many of which DC would have had the ability to adapt to comics. It was STUNNING. I had no idea, I don't think Dan knew, either."

Dan DiDio was then publisher of DC Comics. And this was the origin of certain comics that DC did publish, including the new look Scooby Doo, Flintstoines, Space Ghost, Snagglepuss and the like. But there was more, much more, beyond Hanna-Barbera remakes. Gail Simone continues.

"He said that this list could do something for DC that hadn't really been the case in a long time, it could open up a ton of genres with already-popular IP. Many were very dormant concepts, but many still had active fanbases, and some were huge. And we could use them. So there were a lot of things people know, like MORTAL KOMBAT and the various Bugs Bunny-type things, but the list just went on and on and on, things like the Three Stooges and tons of toy lines and action movie franchises. It was an incredible list.

"WB's ownership didn't GUARANTEE that DC could publish, there would still be rights issues, but it would make it a LOT easier, and additionally, the fun thing was, whatever we chose… …we would likely be able to put it in the DCU proper. Which was mind-blowing. He asked me to look at the list and pick something I wanted to do. I chose immediately but asked if I could take a copy of the list to look over and that was an absolute NO, for confidentiality. But it didn't matter, I'd already chosen, but I took a couple days to think.

"And I chose MORTAL KOMBAT. The idea would be to bring the characters and mythology in to the DCU, like the Charleton characters had many years previously. My thinking was this… First, MK has a MASSIVE fanbase and they are dead serious about the characters. But also, I thought it would do great things for both franchises. There had already been interaction in the MK and Injustice games. But MK's lore is a bit confusing and they don't have a clear timeline (or didn't at the time). A regular comic could cement the lore.

"But also, they would bring two types of characters to the book that DC always felt a little behind Marvel on; martial artists and gods. DC's martial arts lore seemed less fully-realized than Marvel's to me. There are exceptions, but it was just a spot that could be bigger.

"And mostly by virtue of books like THOR and HERCULES, Marvel seemed to have a LOT more integrated god mythology than DC. DC had a lot of cool stuff, but they weren't necessarily part of the fabric in the way that Odin, Loki, Sif, etc. were for Marvel. And finally, the idea of an annual fighting tournament for the various realms, that could be a MASSIVE boost to the DCU's coolness factor. Black Canary fighting Sonya Blade, Superman vs. Raiden, Plastic Man vs. Scorpion…the matches would have been huge.

"I felt it would have been a real addition to the DCU, and also a chance for MK to tell big lore stories. We were going to have three ongoing books. I've talked about this before, the sad end is I worked on it for a year and it fell through for simple corporate stuff. But it still kills me to think about that list. If it had worked, if DC had had even a few hit books featuring WB properties, it could have added entirely new readerships, people who love monsters or action movies or all the other genres they had access to, potentially.

"Ever since that day, I have wracked my brain trying to remember what was on the list (it was lengthy!). I'll forever be bummed it didn't happen, I do feel it's a shame that some of these other genres get overlooked (at the big two). I would have loved to do those books! But I can't remember. Which sucks. :) But also, this was one of the things I really liked about Dan DiDio. Lots of execs tried to keep their heads down, he always wanted to try something new, and a lot of exceptional comics came from that. I really appreciate that quality. I have told parts of this story before, but never really that for the life of me, I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT ELSE WAS ON THE LIST! Someday, I hope someone makes that list again and we see some wild comics come from it! THAT WOULD BE COOL.

"Oh! Also, PS, the new Mortal Kombat game does a fantastic job laying out the new lore, it's really excellent and the writing is top notch."

What might have been… and a little digging may have uncovered some other interesting facts as well. But it also reminds me that if once there was an idea that Fox ever wanted another League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie project they could just use characters that Fox owned…

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